Toyota Town

In a hyper-capitalistic reality, US$220b company Toyota is building its own city. At the base of Mt Fuji and built completely from scratch, the 700,000sqm site will house up to 2000 Toyota employees and families.

Apart from the ultimate display of a “live to work” attitude (your boss is your neighbour), the “Woven City” will become a live, round the clock testing environment for $TM’s latest technologies from smart homes to autonomous vehicles. Production will commence later this year. Naturally, the city aims for full sustainability. Houses will be made of wood, roofs plated with solar panels and hydrogen fuel cells will power the city.

This raises another topic of discussion. In a market focused on future renewable answers, hydrogen doesn’t attract the fanfare of options like solar, leaving many under informed on the technology. This article does a great job on breaking down Hydrogen fuel cells making clear that they’re only efficient if fuelled by water rather than natural gas.

We’ve written about ‘The Line’ in the past; a Saudi City being built around the same concept. While smart cities are an attractive concept, whether the decades and centuries to come bring sustainable and efficient living to the world or become new age gated communities for the rich remains to be seen.